Uncategorised Major Koepke-Medal Bar and Documents group.

[Rogi]

Recently picked this one up, asked a couple friends on the forum for advice on it and they said it was very cool

It arrived today from the dealer and want to see if everyone approves/if it looks ok since there are a lot of documents.

I think it looks great and hopefully you guys enjoy it too Major Karl Adolf Paul Koepke was a Deputy Chief Executive of the Train Depot of the XIV Army, he served in China as well as South Afrika, all medals come with award docs. So I'd like to double check with the Document collectors as well as the medal bar experts to see if everything lines up now that it is here "in the flesh" so to speak I'd love to research this group further if possible but I'd like to double check (while I still have the return policy available if something is off)

If you guys need a zoom in on any documents or have any questions don't hesitate to post

Thanks all for looking in.

I might have to post a couple pictures since there are a lot of documents in the set and it is taking a bit to upload them all

Really enjoy the group so far and hope you guys do too

To start off the medal bar:

left to right, 1. Iron Cross 2nd Class (1914, awarded in 1916), 2. Order of the Red Eagle 4th class (awarded in 1903),3. Baden War Merit Cross (awarded in 1916), 25 Year Service Cross (awarded 1906), German Southwest Afrika Medal (Non-combat issue awarded 1907) China Campaign Medal(non-combat issue awarded in 1901), Jubilee Medal (awarded in 1897)

Reverse

Edited February 12, 2014 by Rogi

[Rogi]

First item, his Reise Pass,

With a photo, not of the full bar, but looks like pre Iron Cross and Baden War Merit Cross,

Something written on the very last page, opposite direction,

Will have to redo this photo later as there is another word in the center that the flash obscured.

Promotion paper, (has a very cool seal you can't see in the photo

Second page:

and bottom of the page:

Edited February 12, 2014 by Rogi

[P.F.]

An impressive grouping.

The second medal is the Prussian Red Eagle Order, 4th Class.

Kind regards

Pierce

[Rogi]

Some other pages, not really sure what these are:

Iron Cross 2nd Class doc:

zoomed in

Baden War Merit Cross Doc.

more documents:

Edited February 12, 2014 by Rogi

[Rogi]

South-West Afrika Campaign medal doc:

China Campaign Medal Doc:

and Jubilee Medal Doc:

Service record

That is it for now, most of the other stuff is a bit too blurry in the photos (I know I'm missing the 25 years and another service record (more official) plus 2 or 3 more promotion papers) but I'll try and post the other documents (yes there is more ) sometime this week when my vision clears up. I hope these ones aren't too blurry

Thank you all for your expert opinions and comments :)

Edited February 12, 2014 by Rogi

[Rogi]

An impressive grouping.

The second medal is the Prussian Red Eagle Order, 4th Class.

Kind regards

Pierce

Thank you for your kind comments Pierce and for the correction don't know what happened to me there changed to Order of the Red Eagle

[VtwinVince]

This is a really nice and complete Nachlass, with the somewhat rare Urkunden for the China and DSWA medals in steel. A grouping I would certainly love to have in my collection, congratulations.

[dedehansen]

Some other pages, not really sure what these are:

Iron Cross 2nd Class doc:

zoomed in

Baden War Merit Cross Doc.

more documents:

Hello Rogi,

I like this group very much.

the content from the handwritten letter is:

Zeugnis der Reife für den Zögling des königlichen Pädagogiums zu Putbus,

maybe someone can translate it.

Regards

Andreas

[arb]

I think the best very rough translation (at least for an American) is a high school final report card. Of course, this is not literal, but the US school system was and remains much different than the German system.

Looking at the various subjects he is graded on religion, German, Latin, Greek, French, Hebrew, math, physics, ?? and geography and gymnastics, it is clear he received a "classical" education in what was once called a grammar school.

No matter how one translate it, it is final evaluation from school.

Andy

[Paul C]

That is a nice complete group and congrats.

[Rogi]

Thank you all for the kind comments

Very interesting and intriguing that it has his high school record in here as well I will post some more docs later today very cool and thank you all for the translation :)

Edited February 13, 2014 by Rogi

[azyeoman]

Great group! Especially with the documents for the two non-combatant (China & DSWA) medals. Lucky you. ; )

[Rogi]

Thank you all so much, I re-did some photos, here are a couple more documents

These are ones I can't make out right now (due to my vision) but I hope they aren't blurry

#1 is this graduation document for something?

#2

#3

#4 Maybe school related, similar style to some previous ones?

#5

Is this Personal Report (Service Record)?I believe its the army issue since it lists his positions from what I can see and Qualifications on the next page

Promotion to (Ensign?):

Edited February 14, 2014 by Rogi

[Rogi]

#7

#8

on the same page:

#9 Order of the Red Eagle award Document:

Just couple more documents to go but I will re-take these photos tomorrow and post, thanks all for checking in and for all the help

[paja]

My congrats on an excellent group!

Many thanks for sharing it with us!

[Leutwein]

Wow a wonderful group.

I like a lot those complete groups, congratulation and thanks for sharing it.

But I have also a little surprise for you

The commander of Koepke who signed the South-West Afrika Campaign medal doc, received also the South-West Afrika Campaign medal

Best wishes

Karsten

[Rogi]

Wow a wonderful group.

I like a lot those complete groups, congratulation and thanks for sharing it.

But I have also a little surprise for you

The commander of Koepke who signed the South-West Afrika Campaign medal doc, received also the South-West Afrika Campaign medal

Best wishes

Karsten

Wow, What a "small world" Thank you so much for sharing the document with us Karsten

What a cool re-uniting

Edited February 15, 2014 by Rogi

[Chris Boonzaier]

A fantastic group indeed !

[Rogi]

Here we go, just a small update and 1 question, took some more pics in detail:

Order of the Red Eagle Hallmarked with "Wilm"

and I pulled back the ribbon on most of the orders I could, just to take a small picture, then returned it to its place :)It has this very interesting ribbon on the backing, is this to signifying the recipient is from Baden, or something else?(took the photo from the EK 2)

Thanks all for any other comments and appreciated it a lot :)

Edited March 4, 2014 by Rogi

[redeagleorder]

The ribbon looks like the one for the China medal. These scraps of ribbons were placed under the ribbons you can normally see as a sort of 'padding'.

[saschaw]

A remarkably complete group, with all that papers! However, despite I've already seen the bar in 2014, it took me until now to realize the Baden's Kriegsverdienstkreuz' ribbon is not the proper one...

 

This looks much more like a Soviet "Order of Lenin" [Орден Ленина] ribbon?! Could not be, unless the bar was recreated much more recently to fit the group...

 

 

Edited August 14, 2022 by saschaw

[saschaw]

On 14/08/2022 at 18:17, Simius Rex said:

The incorrect ribbon used (...) is not the only problem this medal bar has.

Well, now that you mention it... seems someone reconstructed the group, be it from Koepke's awards or just from lose medals, to fit the paperwork.

 

What a shame... there's so many groups that have been "played" with.

 

 

Edited August 24, 2022 by saschaw